Pennypack Farm Approved To Build Pole Barn

HORSHAM TOWNSHIP, PA —The Pennpack Farm and Education Center has grown 133,065 pounds of vegetables on Mann Road since 2022.

Of that, 24,660 pounds have been given out. Meanwhile, 3,500 people have been educated.

The farm's community contributions as a non-profit organization have benefited residents from Horsham and throughout Montgomery County for 20 years through its land lease with College Settlement.

Its sustainable agriculture on 13 acres and Community Supported Agriculture has helped feed families through weekly vegetable pickups for a decade. Pennypack Farm has an 88 percent retention rate of customers and even a waiting list.

But the farm needs to protect the equipment that harvests its produce.

At its recent meeting, Pennypack Farm showed Horsham Township Council pictures of its two broken-down sheds where its equipment is exposed to the elements.

So the council unanimously agreed to waive land development plans for the Pennypack Farm to construct a pole barn to house its equipment. at 685 Mann Rd.

Three conditions attached to the waiver involve landscaping, stormwater control, and no public use of the pole barn.

In other township council business at the Sept. 13 meeting:

• Council unanimously approved removing restrictions for the Horsham Friends Meeting House at 500 Easton Rd. to use classroom space. The school wasn't allowed to use the building for classes because of the nearby military base having an active airfield. But now that the base is closed, the measure is no longer needed.
• A bid was awarded for ADA improvements to the intersection of Meetinghouse Road and Moreland Avenue. Albert G. Cipolloni Jr. and Sons were the low bidder at $135,005 for the work. The high bidder was $238,961.73. The council unanimously approved the bid.